LCC Administration: It wasn't ineptitude, just inabilty

The famed Laredo Morning Times ran a story this morning detailing the goings on at a "recent" specially-called LCC board meeting. It was interesting how the college's administration kept side-stepping taking full responsibilty for the mis-management that led to Laredo Community College being put on 12 months of probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

At one point, a Mr. Solis, speaking on behalf of LCC's administration, tries to argue that the college was simply unable to comply as opposed to be inept.

From Friday's Laredo Morning Times

Tensions ran high at a recent LCC special board meeting as the college’s administrators discussed the school’s plan to close its ongoing accreditation reaffirmation process.

Laredo Community College was placed on a 12-month probation in July by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges because it failed to correct deficiencies in its institutional effectiveness reports.

Institutional effectiveness is the process schools use to improve educational programs and services and ensure they’re meeting objectives.

The college has until June 2013 to correct the deficiency or risk losing its accreditation, which would render degrees and credits from the institution meaningless. 

The statement from the commission released in June stated that LCC failed to demonstrate compliance with “institutional effectiveness for administrative support services, academic and student support services and community/public service.”

Trustee Ed Sherwood asked for a simplified breakdown of the language used by the accrediting agency and what it meant for the college.

Solis said the statement didn’t reflect the college’s ineptitudes but rather the college’s inability to place what they’re doing into a narrative, something the agency requires via submitted reports.

“It’s coming clear that you had the data and information.

It was just the proper substance in the report that didn’t get communicated or written properly,” said trustee Pete Saenz Jr.

“What else could we have done in retrospect to have avoided this?” Saenz asked.

In response, Maldonado said administration had been ambitious, dealing with the college’s facilities master plan and student success master plan in addition to the agency’s expectations.

“I can understand the concern of the board and I accept responsibility for the fact that we were engaged in a lot of different things.

I am pledging to you that our No. 1 priority is closing the reaffirmation cycle,” Maldonado said.